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The 33-year-old from Marazion denied he had killed Kirby Noden and dismembered her body.

He maintained that Miss Noden, who was also known as Kirsty, was still alive and living in South Africa.

Detective Inspector Ian Ringrose said: “Based on the evidence and our investigation it is my belief that Lowe had killed Kirby sometime between 11 and 14 of January 2017.

“On the evening of the 17 May 2017 Lowe made a number of disclosures via Facebook to relatives in Cheshire that gave them concerns about Kirby’s safety and led them to alert the police in their local area who in turn notified officers of the fears as to Kirby’s murder.

“On the evening of 18 May 2017 officers found Lowe at the Courtyard Flat and, due to what he told them and the scene that they discovered, they arrested him on suspicion of Kirby’s Murder.

“Lowe had made certain disclosures in the Facebook messages and to the arresting officer to suggest that he had killed Kirby, disarticulated her body and disposed of her remains. The forensic examination of the scenes supported this and that there had been a sustained attack on Kirby and that Lowe was the person responsible for that assault.

“He subsequently denied those admissions and pleaded not guilty to murder.

“This has been an extensive and complex investigation which has been necessary to prove that Lowe is responsible for Kirby’s death, disprove his various explanations as to why Kirby could not be found and in parallel, because we have been unable to find any of Kirby’s remains, a complex investigation to prove that Kirby is no longer alive. This has required extensive nationwide and International enquiries.

“Miss Noden’s family have been put through a living hell with Lowe not disclosing where he disposed of Kirby’s body and denying all knowledge in court. Lowe added to their upset by insisting that Kirby was still alive.

“We hope today’s verdict gives them some comfort in the conclusion of the case and our thoughts and sympathies are with them.”

Miss Noden was last seen alive in January last year. The couple lived in a flat in North Street where Lowe continued to live for four months after killing her. He even made purchases online using her bank card.

They had previously lived together in Torquay.

After deliberating for less than ten hours, the jury unanimously found Lowe guilty of murder. After the verdict was announced jurors were in tears as they left the courtroom.

The jury had heard from Paul Dunkles, QC, prosecuting , who said: “In January last year Dean Lowe and Kirby Noden were living together in a flat in Marazion. That month he attacked her in the bedroom, beating her to death with a rock and metal pole. He then disposed of her body so nothing was found but blood.

“Blood was found splattered over the walls, on the mattress and on the murder weapons.

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“Nobody other than the defendant knew what happened for four months until May of last year when the defendant sent messages to members of his family living in Cheshire saying there had been a body on the floor of the flat and that he had cut it up and put it down the toilet.

“The defendant then showed a police officer the blood and admitted killing Ms Noden and disposing of the body.”

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He said Lowe sent a message to his cousin Elliot Sanderson saying that Miss Noden was missing and adding: “There’s two alternatives. She’s dead and been chopped up and put down the toilet and bins down the road, or she’s setting me up.”

(Image: Devon and Cornwall Police)

Mr Dunkles said that Lowe said in a later message to Mr Sanderson: “Either I am getting set up or I murdered Kirby. I had a blackout. Woke up with a body on the floor. Scared, so I just got rid. Put body in bin down the road.

“I remember cutting it up and putting in bin for defo. I heard the bin men find all the meat. They didn’t know what it was.

“The carpet had to be lifted because of all the body matter. It was left for a week.”

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Mr Dunkles said the couple had lived together for a number of years and were originally from Cheshire.

He said: “Theirs was a somewhat chaotic lifestyle and marred by the use of illegal drugs. They lived on state benefits and were occasionally homeless. They had lived in Torquay, Launceston and then Marazion.”

In his defence, Lowe told the jury his version of events , claiming that Miss Noden left him after an argument about her cheating on him with an old friend and that he was then drugged and raped by two men while Miss Noden spread her blood around the flat from a colostomy bag.

Lowe also said that he received a call from Miss Noden while incarcerated in HMP Exeter when she said “you’re f*cked now, you’ve got life in jail and I’ve got a new life out here”.

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Defence barrister Anna Vigars, QC, asked Lowe about the last time he saw Miss Noden and he said: “We had an argument in the morning about her cheating on me with Dan. Over the past few months I took notice of a few more things.

“I’ve had blackouts of being raped. I knew she’d been trying to set me up.

“She was shouting. Dan opened the door and came in and I got drugged with some sort of date rape drug. I remember just passing out in the living room.

“I remember people running in the flat, Kirby smashing a rock on the floor saying ‘this is your stone cold heart and now it is broken’.

“I was raped by two people, a black guy and another guy. Kirby had a colostomy bag and started banging it and spraying blood on the floor.”

The jury however rejected Lowe’s version of events.

Statement from Kirby Noden’s family: "Dean Lowe has taken away from us something totally precious, and although we welcome this verdict and sentence, it will never replace our loss.

“We would like to thank the ladies and gentlemen of the jury; and all members of the Devon and Cornwall Police, especially D.I. Ian Ringrose and his team for their extremely thorough hard work and relentless dedication to achieve a conviction.

“We would especially like to express our thanks and warm wishes to DC Jon Watts for his outstanding work and compassion during this case.”